Comparing Guilt And Perfection In Nathaniel Hawthorne's Birthmark

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As we look at the two short stories, we found ourselves contrasting themes. In the, “Birthmark”, guilt and perfection were two of the themes being shown. “Has it never occurred to you that the mark upon your check might be removed” (Hawthorne Pg 341). The guilt of Aylmer shows that he is ashamed of having a wife who some sort of defect and plans on doing everything he can. In short, we can also discover that going for perfection can sometimes leave you in dire situations as many people can proclaimed. It can leave you regretting the things that you have done. This can be true for Aylmer because his love for his wife was only for the outside, not the inside. “But why do we speak of dying? The draught cannot fail. Behold its effect upon this plant” (Hawthorne Pg 350). Its showing that Aylmer will the necessary risks in order to achieve what he wants because he desires perfection and trying for the…show more content…
In the, “Birthmark”, it is a third person format in which we the narrator showing disgust that Aylmer was going to rise his wife’s health to get rid of the birthmark. It also draws attention to Aylmer about how he is an intelligent and chatty person. In addition, we find that he has so much faith in science. “Aylmer possessed this degree of faith in mans ultimate control over nature” (Hawthorne Pg 341). His faith in this is what drives him to destroy everything worth good to him. As the narrator is telling the story, Aylmer becomes a bit too crazy using every method to get rid of the mark that he becomes eccentric. “Unless all my science have deceived me, it cannot fail” (Hawthorne Pg 350). It seems that the character has more faith and love for science and what the narrator is showing is the competition for science against love. We see at the end that the faith of science fails him and that he loses two things. His wife and science. At the end, the narrator criticizes Aylmer for being blind to the

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